We all love social media. Let me correct myself, we are all addicted to social media. I am at least. Once I start strolling it is really hard to stop. And I just keep adding new sites. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and LinkedIn. Once I get in there to engage with some people it gets really hard to pull yourself away. But I'm not doing myself any favors by constantly watching the highlights of everyone else's life and neither are you.
Different social media accounts can mean different things for you. I use Facebook as a way to keep up with friends and stay informed but also for my business. I love Instagram because I have curated a newsfeed that is almost completely positive. I also use that quite a bit for business. There isn't nearly as much negativity there as I see on Facebook. Tik tok can be straight up hilarious and can really suck me in. I've been trying to post more there for my business and it means I'm checking it more often to see if my post is getting any traction. Then there is LinkedIn which is a business networking site and I don't spend a lot of time on there but I hear all the time that I should for my own business.
The biggest drawback of these sites are the fact that you only see the good stuff in people's lives and it creates an illusion that everyone has it better than you do. Even though you know this on a logical level your brain doesn't always recognize that and you start to feel like you are behind or not as good. It's really true. Just for the fact that you are following the Kardashian's and seeing all the amazing things they have in their lives every day your brain is comparing that to your life and making you feel like you don't have enough. Especially since most of us don't have even a fraction of what they have.
It's the same with watching t-v. If you are always watching shows with rich people that live lavish lifestyles you will feel bad about your own life and how you live. It's all because your brain doesn't recognize that this is just something you are watching. It thinks it is real and compares it to your real life. And we know that what we see on social media and tv is not the whole picture. We know that everyone goes through troubled times but they are posting about that. This is why it's so important to stop watching other people's lives and go live your own great story.
Let's dissect this a little further. When you think about it isn't it rather sad that we invest so much time in watching what other people are doing with their lives? Shouldn't we be investing that time into making our own lives great? It's all common sense but is it common practice? We know what we should be doing it but are we? Most of the time the answer is no.
Even reading (which I'm a big proponent of) is a form of escape. We leave our own lives for awhile and live someone else's. It's fun and interesting but it isn't all we should be doing. We need to spend as much time planning and enjoying our own life as we do scrolling, watching and reading. Think about that for a minute. What if you took the time you spent watching other people and used it on yourself instead? Reflecting on what has made you happy and what hasn't. Making plans to do the things you love. Finding new things that may interest you and learning about subjects you've always been curious about. If you put just a fraction of the time you spend watching and scrolling I bet your life would be a whole lot better and then you wouldn't feel the need to scroll and watch as much.
What do you think? Take a half hour each week to map out what you want life to look like for that week. Decide on what you want to spend less time on and what you want to do more of. Build in some time to do something you haven't ever done before or something you used to do all the time but never have the time for now. Think back to when you were young and free, what did you do back then? Is it anything you would want to try again?
We can all make our own lives as interesting as those we follow if we just put a little time and effort into it. It won't be the glamorous life all the time but I bet it will feel a lot better. I know you can. I believe in you and I know you have it in you to do exactly what makes you happy.
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Now go out there and be badass this week. You know I'm here cheering you on.
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